Fillmore County, Minnesota - Fort Snellma Dtjeing Its Occitpancy by Companies of the Fifth Regiment It. S. Infantby, 1882

Fort Snellma Dtjeing Its Occitpancy by Companies of the Fifth Regiment It. S. Infantby

Orders for military ooonpation of Upper MUslssippl - Leavenworth and Forsyth at Frairie du Chien - Birth in Cnrap - Trooiw arrive at Mendota - Cantonment Eitahlished - Wheat carriwl to Ponibina - Notice of Devotion, Prcscott, and Miyor Taliaferro - Camp Cold Water E«tuMinhed-C^l. SncUinn takes command - Impressive Scene - Offlceni in 1820 - Condition of the Fort in 1821 - Saint Anthony Mill - Alexis Bailly take* cattle to Pembina - Notice of Beltrami - Arrival of firmt Steam boat^Major Lnng'a Expe<lition to Northern Boundary- Beltrami visit! the northern Bourc««i of the Mississippi - First flour mill - First Sunday School - Great flood in IH2H. African slaves at the Fort - Steamboat Arrivals - Dnels - Notice of Willinm Joiwph SneUin« - Indian fichtot the Fort- Attack upon keel boats - ^^Jencral Qninea' report - Removal of Fillh Regiment- Death of Colonel Snellini;.

The rumor that Lord Selkirk was founding a colony on the borders of the United States, and that the British ti-ading companies within the boundaries of what became the territory of Minnesota, convinced the authorities at Washington of the importance of a miUtary occupation of the valley of the Upper Mississippi.

"Major General Macomb, commander of the Fifth Military department, will without delay, concentrate at Detroit the Fifth Regiment of Infantry, excepting the recruits otherwise directed by the general order herewith transmitted. As soon as the navigation of the lakes will admit, he will cause tlie regiment to be transported to Fort Howard ; from thence, by the way of the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers, to Prairie du Chien, and, after detaching a sufficient number of companies to garrison Forts Crawford and Armstrong, the remainder will proceed to tlie mouth of the River St. Peter's, where they will establish a post, at which the headquarters of the regiment will be located. The regiment, previous to its departure, will receive the necessary supplies of clothing, provisions, arms, and ammunition. Immediate application will be made to Brigadier General Jesup, Quartermaster General, for funds necessary to execute the movements required by this order."

"The season having now arrived when th6 lakes may be navigated with safety, a detachment of the Fifth Regiment, to consist of Major Marston's and Captain Fowle's companies, under the command of Major Muhlehburg, will proceed to Green Bay. Surgeon's Mate, R. M. Byrne, of the Fifth Regiment, will accompany the detachment. The Assistant Deputy Quartermaster General will furnish the necessary transport, and will send by the same opportunity two hundred barrels of provisions, which he will draw from the contractor at this post. The provisions must be examined and inspected, and proi)erly put up for transportation. Colonel Leavenworth will, without delay, prepare his regiment to move to the post on the Mississippi, agreeable to the Division order of the tenth of February. The Assistant Deputy Quartermaster General will furnish the necessary transportation, to be ready by the first of May next. The Colonel will make requisition for such stores, ammunition, tools and implements as may be required, and he be Qj)le to take with him on the expedition. Particular instructions will be given to the Colonel, explaining the objects of his expedition."

On Wednesday, the last day of June, Col. Leavenworth and troops arrived from Green Bay, at Prairie du Chien. Scarcely had they reached this point when Charlotte Seymour, the wife of Lt. Xathan Clark, a native of Hartford, Ct, gave bii-th to a daughter, whose first baptismal name was Charlotte, after her mother, and the second Ouisconsin, given by the officers in view of the fact that she was bom at the junction of that stream with the Mississippi.

In time Charlotte Ouisconsin married a young Lieutenant, a native of Princeton, New Jersey, and a graduate of West Point, and still resides with her husband, General H. P. Van Cleve» in

Col, Leavenworth Abbives At Mendota

In Jime, under instructions from the "War Department, Major Thomas Forsyth, connected with the oflSce of Indian aifairs, left St. Louis with two thousand doUars worth of goods to be distributed among the Sioux Indians, in accordance with the agreement of 1805, already referred to, by the late General Pike.

About nine o'clock of the momuig of the fifth of July, he joined Leavenworth and his command at Prairie du Chien. Some time was occupied by Leavenworth awaiting the arrival of ordnance, provisions and recruits, but on Sunday morning, the eighth of August, about eight o'clock, the expedition set out for the point now known as Mendota. The flotilla was quite imposing; there were the Clolonel's barge, fourteen batteaux wjth ninety-eight soldiers and oflicers, two large canal or Mackinaw boats, filled with various stx)res, and Forsyth^ keel boat^, containing goods and presents foY the Indians. On the tw^enty-third of August, Forsyth reached the mouth of the Minnesota with his boat, and the next monung Col. Leaveiworth arrived, and selecting a place at Mendota, near the present railroad bridge, he ordered the soldiers to cut down trees and make a clearing. On the next Saturday Col. Leavenworth, Major Vose, Surgeon Purcell, Liei\tenant Clark and the wife of Captain Gooding ivited the ISfiXis of Saint Anthony with Forsyth, in his keel boat.

During the winter of 1820, Laidlow and others, in behalf of Lord Selkirk's Scotch settlers at Pembina, whose crops had been destroyed by grasshoppers, passed the Cantonment, on their way to Prairie du Chien, to piurchase wheat. Upon the fifteenth of April tliey began their return with their Mackinaw boats, each loaded with two hundred bushels of wheat, one hundred of oats, and thirty of peas, and reached the mouth of the Minnesota early in May. Ascending this stream to Big Stone Lake, the boats were drawn on rollers a mile and a half to Lake Traverse, and on the third of June arrived at Pembina and cheered the desponding and needy settlers of the Selkirk colony.

The first sutler of the post w^as a Mr. Devotion. He brought with him a young man named Philander Prescott, who was bom in 1801, at Phelpstown, Ontario county, New York. At first they stopped at Mud Hen Island, in the Mississippi below the mouth of the St. Croix River. Coming up late in the year 1819, at the site of the present town of Hastings they found a keel-boat loaded with supplies for the cantonment, in charge of Lieut. Oliver, detained by the ice.

Amid all the changes of the troops, Mr. Prescott remained nearly all his life in the vicinity of the post, to which he came when a mere lad, and was at length killed in the Sioux Massacre.

Events Of The Year 1820

The first Indian Agent at the post was a former army officer, Lawrence Taliaferro, pronounced Toliver. As he had the confidence of the Government for twenty-one successive years, he is deserving of notice.

His family was of Italian origin, and among the early settlers of Virginia. He was bom in 1794, in King William county in that State, and when, in 1812, war was declared against Great Britain, with four brothers, he entered the army, and was commissioned as Lieutenant of the Thirty-fifth Infantry. He behaved gallantly at Fort Erie and Sackett's Harbor, and after peace was declared, he was retained as a First Lieutenant of the Tliird Infantry. In 1816 he was stationed at Fort Dearborn, now the site of Chicago. While on a furlough, he called one day upon President Monroe, who told him that a fort would be built near the Falls of Saint Anthony, and an Indian Agency established, to which he offered to appoint him. His commission was dated March 27th, 1819, and he proceeded in due time to his post.

On the fifth day of May, 1820, Leavenworth left his winter quarters at Mendota, crossed the stream and made a summer camp near the present mihtary grave yard, which in consequence of a fine spring has been called " Camp Cold Water." The Indian agency, under Taliaferro, remained for a time at the old cantonment.

garden in the bottom lands of the Minnesota, and on the fifteenth of Jime the earliest garden peas were eaten. The fii-st distinguished visitors at the new encampment were (Governor Lewis Cass, of Michigaji, and Henry Schoolcraft, who arrived in July, by way of Lake Superior and Sandy Lake.

The relations between Col. Leavenworth and Indian Agent Taliaferro were not entirely harmonious, growing out of a disagreement of views relative to the treatment of the Indians, and on the day of the arrival of Governor Cass, Teliaferro writes to Leavenworth :

" As it is now imderstood that I am agent for Indian affairs in this coimtry, and you are about to leave the upper Mississippi, in all probability in the course of a month or two, I beg leave to suggest, for the sake of a general imderstanding with the Indian tril>es in this country, that any medals, you may iK>88e8s, would by being tunie^ over to me, cease to be a topic of remark among the different Indian tribes under my direction. I will pass to you any voucher that may be required, and I beg leave to observe that any progress in influence is much impeded in consequence of this frequent intercoiurse with the garrison."

In a few days, the disastrous effect of Indians mingling with the soldi was exliibited. On the third of August, the agent wTote to Leavenworth:

" His Excellency Grovemor Cass during his visit to this post remarked to me that the Indians in this quarter were spoiled, and at the same time said they should not be permitted to enter the camp. An unpleasant affair has lately taken place ; I mean the stabbing of the old chief Mahgossau by his comrade. This was caused, doubtless, by an anxiety to obtain the chief's whiskey. I beg, therefore, that no whiskey whatever be given to any Indians, imless it be through their proper agent. While an overplus of whiskey thwarts the benificent and humane policy of the government, it entails misery upon the Indians, and endangers their lives."

A few days after this note was written Josiah Snelling, who had been recently promoted to the Colonelcy of the Fifth Regiment, arrived with his family, relieved Leavenworth, and infused new life and energy. A little while before bis arrival, the daughter of Captain Grooding was married to Lieutenant Green, the Adjutant of the regiment, the first marriage of white persons In Minnesota. Mrs. Snelling, a few days after her arrival, gave birth to a daughter, the fiist white child bom in Minnesota, and after a brief existence of thirteen months, she died and was the first interred in the military grave yard, and for years the stone which marked its resting place, was visible.

The earliest manuscript in Minnesota, written at the Cantonment, is dated October 4, 1820, and is in the handwriting of Colonel Snelling. It reads : " In justice to Lawrence Taliaferro, Esq., Indian Agent at tliis post, we, the imdersigned, officers of the Fifth Regiment here stationed, have presented him this paper, as a token, not only ot our individual respect and esteem, but as an entii o approval of liis conduct and deportment as a public agent in this quarter. Given at St. Peter, this 4th day of October, 1820.

During the summer of 1820, a party of the Sisseton Sioux killed on the Missouri, Isadore Poupon, a half-breed, and Joseph Andrews, a Canadian engaged in the fur trade. The Indian Agent, through CoUn Campbell, as interpreter, notified the Sissetons that trade would cease with them, imtil the murderers were delivered. At a council held at Big Stone Lake, one of the murderers, and the aged father of another, agreed to surrender themselves to the commanding officer.

On the twelfth of November, accompanied by their friends, they approached the encampment in solemn procession, and marched to the centre of the parade. Pirst appeared a Sisseton bearing a British flag ; then the murderer and the devoted father of another, their arms pinioned, and large wooden splinters thrust through the flesh above the elbows indicating their contempt for pain and death ; in the rear followed friends and relatives, with them chanting the death dirge. Having arrived in front of the guard, fire was kindled, and the British flag burned ; then tlie murderer delivered up his medal, and both prisoners were simrounded. Col. Snelling detained the old chief, while the murderer was sent to St. Louis for trial.

Events Of The Year 1821

Col. Snelling built the fort in the shape of a lozenge, in view of the projection between the two rivers. The first row of baiTacks was of hewn logs, obtained from the pine forests of Rum River, but the other buildings were of stone. Mi-s. Van Cleve, the daughter of Lieutenant, afterwards Captain Clark, writes :

" In 1821 the fort, although not complete, was fit for occupancy. My fatlier had assigned to him the quarters next beyond tlie steps leadmg to the Commissary's stores, and during the year my little sister Juliet was bom there. At a later period my father and Major Garland obtained permission to build more commodious quartere outside the walls, and the result was the two stone houses afterwards occupied by the Indian Agent and interpreter, lately destroyed."

Early in August, a young and intelligent mixed blood, Alexis Bailly, in after years a member of the legislature of Minnesota, left the cantonment with the first drove of cattle for the Selkirk Settlement, and the next winter returned with Col. Robert Dickson and Messrs. Laidlow and Mackenzie.

The next month, a party of Sissetons visited the Indian Agent, and told him that they had started with another of the murderers, to which reference has been made, but that on the way he had, through fear of being hung, killed himself.

This fall, a mill was constiiicted for the use of tlie garrison, on the west side of St. Anthony Falls,under the supervision of Lieutenant McCabe. During the fall, George Gooding, Captain by brevet, resigned, and became Sutler at Prairie du Chien. He was a native of Massachusetts, and entered the army as ensign in 1808. In 1810 he became a Second Lieutenant, and the next year was wounded at Tippecanoe.

In the middle of October, there embarked on the keel-boat " Saucy Jack," for Prairie du Chien, Col. Snelling, Lieut. Baxley, Major Taliaferro, and Mrs. Gooding,

Events Of 1822 And 1823

Early in January, 1822, there came to the Fort from the Red River of the North, Col. Robert Dickson, Laidlow, a Scotch farmer, the superintendent of Lord Selkirk's experimental farm, and one Mackenzie, on their way to Prairie du Chien. Dickson returned with a drove of cattle, but owing to the hostility of the Sioux his cattle were scattered, and never reached Pembina.

During the winter of 1823, Agent Taliaferro was in Washington. Wliile returning in March, he was at a hotel in Pittsburg, when he received ii note signed G. C. Beltrami, who was an Italian exile, asking permission to accompany him to the Indian territory. lie was tall and commanding in appearance, and gentlejnanly in bearing, and Taliaferro was so forcibly impressed as to accede to the request. After reaching St. Louis they embarked on the first steamboat for the Upper Mississippi.

It was named the Virginia, and was built in Pittsburg, twenty- two feet in width, and one hundred and eighteen feet in length, in charge of a Captain Crawford. It reached the Fort on the tenth of May, and was saluted by the discharge of cannon. Among the passengers, besides the Agent and the Italian, were Major Riddle, Lieut RusseU, and others.

The arrival of the Virginia is an era in the history of the Dahkotah nation, and will probably be transmitted to their posterity as long as they exist as a people. They say their sacred men, the night before, di'eamed of seeing some monster of the watere, which frightened them very rduch.

As the boat neared the shore, men, women, and children beheld with silent astonishment, supposing that it was some enormous water-spirit, coughing, puffing out hot breath, and splashing water in every direction. When it touched the landing their feai-s prevailed, and they retreated some distance; but when the blowing off of steam commenced they were completely unnerved : mothera forgetting their children, with streaming hair, sought hiding-places ; chiefs, re-

Expl0Ber8 And Pioneers Of Minnesota

The peace agreement beteen the Ojibways and Dahkotahs, made through the influence of Governor Cass, was of brief duration, the latter being the first to violate the provisions.

On the fourth of June, Taliaferro, the Indian agent among the Dahkotahs, took advantage of' the presence of a large number of Ojibways to renew the agreement for the cessation of hostilities. Tlie council hall of the agent was a large room of logs, in which waved conspicuously the flag of the United States, surrounded by British colors and medals that had been delivered up from time to time by Indian chiefs.

Among the Dahkotah chiefs present were Wapashaw, Little Crow, and Penneshaw ; of the Ojibways there were Kendouswa, Moshomene, and Pasheskonoepe. After mutual accusations and excuses concerning the infraction of the previous treaty, the Dahkotahs liglited the calumet, they having been the first to infringe upon the agreement of 1820. After smoking and passing the pipe of peace to the Ojibways, who passed through the same formalities, they all shook liands as a pledge of renewed amity.

The morning after the coiuicil, Flat Mouth, the distinguished Ojib way chief, arrived, who had left his lodge vowing that he would never be at peace with the Dahkotahs. As he stepped from his canoe, Penneshaw held out his hand, but was repulsed with scorn. The Dahkotah warrior immediately gave the alarm, and in a moment runners were on their way to the neighboring villages to raise a war party.

On the sixth of June, the Dahkotahs had assembled, stripped for a fight, and surrounded the Ojibways. The latter, fearing the worst, concealed their women and children behind the old barracks which had been used by the troops while the fort was being erected. At the solicitation of the agent and commander of the fort, the Dahkotahs desisted trom an attack and retired.

On the seventh, the Ojibways left for their homes; but, in a few hours, while they were making a portage at Falls of St. Anthony, they were again approached by the Dahkotahs, who would have attacked them, if a detachment of troops had not arrived from the fort.

had been killed at the falls, his mother seized an Ojibway maiden, who had been a captive from infancy, and, with a tomahawk, cut her in two. Upon Che return of the son in safety he was much gratified at what he considered the prowess of his parent.

On the third of July, 1823, Major Long, of the engineers, arrived at the fort in conmaand of an expedition to explore the Minnesota River, and the region along the northern boundary line of the United States. Beltrami, at the request of Col. Snelling, was permitted to be of the party, and Major Taliaferro kindly gave him a horse and equipments.

The relations of the Italian to Major Long were not pleasant, and at Pembina Beltrami left the expedition, and with a bois brule and two Ojibways proceeded and discovered the northern sources of the Mississippi, and suggested where the western sources would be found ; which was verified by Sf^hoolcraft nine years later. About the second week in September Beltrami returned to the fort by way of the Mississippi, escorted by forty or fifty Ojibways, and on the 25th departed for New Orleans, where he published his discoveries in the French language. . .

The mill which was constructed in 1821, for sawing lumber, at the Falls of St. Anthony, stood upon the site of the Holmes and Sidle Mill, in Minneapolis, and in 1823 was fitted up for grinding flour. The following extracts from correspondence addressed to Lieut. Clark, Conunissary at Fort Snelling, will be read with interest.

Under the date of August 6th, 1823, General Gibson writes : " From a letter addressed by Col. Snelling to the Quartermaster (General, dated the 2d of April, I learn that a large quantity of wheat would be raised this sunamer. The assistant Commissary of Subsistence at St. Louis has been instructed to forward sickles and a pair of millstones to St. Peters. If any flour is manufactured from the wheat raised, be pleased to let me know a^ early as practicable, that I may deduct the quantity manufactured at the post from the quantity advertised to be contracted for."

In another letter. General Gibson writes: " Below you will find the amount charged on the books against the garrison at Ft. St. Anthony, for certain articles, and forwarded for the use of the troops at that post, which you will deduct

Fib8T Flour Mill In Minnesota

Upon the 19th of January, 1824, the General writes: " The mode suggested by Col. Snelling, of fixing the price to be paid to the troops for the flour furnished by them is deemed equitable and just You will accordingly pay for the flour $3.33 per barrel."

Charlotte Ouisconsin Van Cleve, now the oldest person living who was connected with the cantonment in 1819, in a paper read before the Department of American History of the Minnesota Historical Society in January, 1880, wrote :

" In 1823, Mrs. Snelling and my mother established the first Sunday School in the Northwest. It was held in the basement of the commanding officer's quarters, and was productive of much good. Many of the soldiers, with their families, attended. Joe. Brown, since so well know in this country, then a drummer boy, was one of the pupils. A Bible class, for the officers and their wives, was formed, and all became so interested in the history of the patriarchs, that it furnished topics of conversation for the week. One day after the Sunday School lesson on the death of Moses, a member of the class meeting my motlier on the parade, after exchanging the usual greetings, said, in saddened tones, ' But don't you feel sorry that Moses is dead ? '

Early in the spring of 1824, the Tully boys were rescued from the Sioux and brought to the fort They were children of one of the settlers of Lord Selkirk's colony, and with their parents and others, were on their way from Red Biver Valley to settle near Fort Snelling.

The party was attacked by Indians, and the parents of these children murdered, and the boys captured. Through the influence of Col. Snelling the children were ransomed and brought to the fort. Col. Snelling took John and my father Andrew, the younger of the two. Everyone became interested in the orphans, and we loved Andrew as if he had been our own little brother. John died some two years after his arrival at the fort, and Mrs. Snelling asked me when I last saw her if a tomb stone had been placed at his grave, she as requested, during a visit to the old home some years ago. She said she received a promise that it should be done, and seemed quite disappointed when I told her it had not been attended to."

Andrew Tully, after being educated at an Orphan Asylum in Kew York City, became a carriage maker, and died a few years ago in that vicinity.

Events Of The Year A. D.

In the year 1824 the Fort was visited by Gen. Scott, on a tour of inspection, and at his suggestion, its name was changed from Fort St. Anthony to Fort Snelling. The following is an extract from his report to the War Department ;

" This work, of which the War Department is in possession of a plan, reflects the highest credit on Col. Snelling, his officers and men. The defenses, and for the most part, the public store* houses, shops and quartei-s being constructed of stone, the whole is likely to endure as long as the post shall remain a frontier one. The cost of erection to the government has been the amomit paid for tools and iron, and the per diem paid to soldiers employed as mechanics. I wish to suggest to the General in Chief, and through liim to the War Department, the propriety of calling this work Fort Snelling, as a just compliment to the meritorious officer imder whom it has been erected. The present name, (Fort St. Anthony), is foreign to all our associations, and is, besides, geographically incorrect, as the work stands at tlie junction of the Mississippi and St. Peter's [Minnesota] Rivers, eight miles below the great falls of the Mississippi, called after St. Anthony."

In 1824, Major Taliaferro proceeded to Washington with a delegation of Chippeways and Dahkotahs, headed by Little Crow, the grand father of the chief of the same name, who was eng^ed in the late honible massacre of defenceless women and children. Tlie object of the visit, was to secure a convocation of all the tribes of the Upper Mississippi, at Prairie du Chein, to define their boundary lines and establish friendly relations. When they reached Prairie du Chein, Wahnatah, a Yankton chief, and also Wapashaw, by the whisperings of mean traders, became dis- affected, and wished to turn back. Little Crow, perceiving tliis, stopped all hesitancy by the following speech: "My friends, you can do as you please. I am no coward, nor can my ears be pulled about by evil counsels. We are here and should go on, and do some good for our nation. I have taken our Father here (Taliaferro) by the coat tail, and will follow him untU I take by the hand, our great American Father."

While on board of a steamer on the Ohio River, Marcpee or the Cloud, in consequence of a bad dream, jumped from the stem of the boat, and was supposed to be drowned, but he swam ashore and made his way to St. Charles, Mo., there to be murdered by sonle Sacs. Tlie remainder safely arrived in Washington and accomplished the object of the visit. The Dahkotahs returned by way of New York, and while tliere were anxious to pay a visit to certain parties with Wm. Dickson, a half-breed son of Col Robert Dickson, the tiTuler, who in tlie war of 1812-15 led the Indians of the Northwest against the United Stiites.

After this visit Little Crow carried a new double-barreled gun, and said that a medicine man by the name of Peters gave it to him for signing a certain paper, and that he also promised he would send a keel-boat full of goods to them. The medicine man referred to was the Rev. Samuel Peters, an Ei)iscopal clergyman, who had made himself obnoxious during the Revolution by his tory sentiments, and was subsequently nominated as Bishop of Vermont.

Peters asserted that in 180G he had purcliased of the heirs of Jonathan Carver the right to a tract of land on the upper Mississippi, embracing St. Paul, alleged to have been given to Carver by the Dalikotahs, in 1767.

The next year there arrived, in one of the keelboats from Prairie du Chien, at Fort Snelling a box marked Col. Robert Dickson. On opening, it was found to contain a few presents from Peters to Dickson's Indian wife, a long letter, and a copy of Carver-8 alleged grant, written on parchment

Events Of The Years 1825 And 1826

Forty years ago, the means of communication between Fort Snelling and the civilized world were very limited. The mail in whiter w^as usually carried by soldiers to Prairie du Chien. On the 26th of January, 1826, there was great joy in the fort, caused by the return from furlough of Lieutenants Baxley and Russell, who brought with them the first mail received for five months. About this period there was also another excitement, cause by the seizure of liquors in the trad" ing house of Alexis Bailey, at New Hope, now Mendota.

During the months of February and March, in this year, snow fell to the depth cf two or three feet, and there was great suffering among the Indians. On one occiision, thirty lodges of Sisseton and other Sioux were overtaken by a snow storm on a large prairie. The storm continued for three days, and provisions grew scarce, for the party were seventy ui number. At last, the stronger men, wiUi the few pairs of snow-shoes in their possession, started for a trading post one hundred miles distant. They reached their destination half alive, and the traders s>Tnpathizing sent four Canadians with supplies for those left behind. After great toil tliey reached the scene of distress, and found many dead, and, what was more horrible, the living feeding on the corpses of their relatives. A mother had eaten her dead child and a portion of her own father's arms. The shock to her nervous system was so great tliat she lost her reason. Iler name was Pashuno-ta, and she was both young and good looking. One day in September, while at Fort Snelling, she asked Captain Jouett if he knew w^hich was the best portion of a man to eat, at the same time taking liim by the collar of his coat. lie replied with gvent astonishment, "No!'' and she then said, "The arms." She then asked for a piece of his servant to eat, as she was nice and fat. A few days, after this she dashed herself from the bluffs near Fort Snelling, into the river. Her body was found just above the mouth of the Minnesota, and decently interred by the agent.

Tlie spring of 1826 was very backward. On the 20tli of March snow fell to the depth of one or one and a half feet on a level, and drifted in heaps from six to fifteen feet in height. On the oth of April, eariy in the day, there was a violent storm, and the ice was still thick in the river. During the stonn flashes of lightning were seen and thunder heard. On the 10th, the thermometer was four degrees above zero. On the 14th there was rain, and on the next day the St. Peter river broke up, but the ice on the Mississippi remained firm. On the 21st, at noon, the ice began to move, and carried away Mr. Faribault's houses on the east side of the river. For several days the river was twenty feet above low water mark, and all the houses on low lands were swept off. On the second of May, the steamboat Lawrence, Captain Reeder, arrived.

Major Taliaferro had inherited several slaves, which he used to hire to officers of the garrison. On the 31st of March, his negro boy, William, was employed by Col. Snelling, the latter agreeing to clothe him. About this time, "Willian^ attempted to shoot a hawk, but instead shot a small boy, named Henry CuUum, and nearly killed him. In May, Captain Plympton, of the Fiftli Infantry, wished to purchase his negro woman, Eliza, but he refused, as it was his intention, ultimately, to free his slaves. iVnother of his negro girls, Harriet, was married at the fort, the Major performing the ceremony, to the now historic Bred Scott, who was then a slave of Surgeon Emerson. The only person that ever purchased a slave, to retain in slavery, was Alexis Bailly, who bought a man of Major Garland. The Sioux, at first, had no prejudices against negroes. They called them " Black Frenchmen," and placing their hands on their woolly heads would laugh heartily.

Life within the walls of a fort is sometimes the exact contrast of a paradise. In the year 1826 a Pandora box was opened, among the officers, and dissensions began to prevail. One young officer, a graduate of AVest Point, whose father had been a professor in Princeton College, fought a duel with, and slightly wounded, AVilliam Joseph, the talented con of Colonel Snelling, who was then twenty- two years of age, and had been three years at AV-est Point. At a Court Martial convened to try the officer for violating the ^\jlicles of War, the accused objected to the testimony of Lieut. William Alexander, a Teimesseean, not a graduate of the Military Academy, on the ground that he was an infidel. Alexander, hui-t by this allusion, challenged the objector, and another duel was fought, resulting only in slight injuries to the clothimj of the combatants. Inspector General E. P. Gaines, after this,^isited the fort, and in his report of the inspection he wrote: "A defect in the discipline of this regiment has appeared in the character of ceiiain pei-sonal controversies, between the Colonel and several of his young officers, the pailiculars of which I forbear to enter into, assured as I am that they will be developed in the proceedings of a general court martial ordered for the trial of Lieutenant Ilunter and other officers at Jefferson Barracks.

From a conversation with the Colonel I can have no doubt that he has erred in the course pursued by him in reference tp some of the controversies, inasmuch as he has intimated to his officers his willingness to sanction in certain cases, and even to participate in personal conflicts, contrary to the twenty-fifth. Article of War."

The Colonel's son, William Joseph, after this passed several ye^rs among traders and. Indians, and became distinguished as a poet and brilliant author.

His Tales of the Northwest," published in Boston in 1820, by Ililliard, Gray, Little & Wilkins, is a work of great literary ability, and Catlin thought the book was the most faithfid picture of Indian life he had read. Some of his poems were also of a high order. One of his pieces, deficient in dignity, was a caustic satire upon modem American poets, and was published under the title of Truth, a Gift for Scribblers."

NaUianiel P. Willis, who had winced under the last, wrote the following lampoon : " Oh, smelling Joseph 1 Thou art like a cur. I'm told thou once did live by hunting fur : Of bigger dogs thou smellest, and, in sooth. Of one extreme, perhaps, can tell the truth. 'Tis a wise shift, and shows thou know'st thy powers,

Explorebs And Piojseebs Of Minnesota

"I live by hunting fur, thou say'st, so let it be, But tell me, Natty I Had I hunted thee, Had not my time been thrown away, young sir, And eke my powder ? Puppies have no fur.

In the year 1826, a small party of Ojibways (Chippeways) canve to see the Indian Agent, and three of them ventured to visit the Columbia Fur Company's trading house, two miles from the Fort. While there, they became aware of their danger, and desired two of the white men attached to the establishment to accompany them back, thinking that their presence might be some protection. They were in error. As they passed a little copse, three Dalikotahs sprang from behind a log with the speed of light, fired their pieces into the face of the foremost, and then fled. The guns must have been double loaded, for the man's head was literally blown from his shoulders, and his white companions were spattered with brains and blood. The survivors gained the Fort without further molestation. Their comrade was buried on the spot where he fell. A staff was set up on his grave, which became a landmark, and received the name of The Murder Pole. The murderers boasted of their achievement and with impunity. They and their tribe thought that they had struck a fair blow on their ancient enemies, in a becoming manner. It was only said, that Toopunkah Zeze of the village of the Batture aux Fievres^ and two others, had each acquired a right to wear skunk skins on their heels and war-eagles' feathers on their heads.

On the twenty-eighth of May, 1827, the Ojibway chief at Sandy Lake, Kee-wee-zais-hish called by the English, Flat Mouth with seven warriors and some women and children, in all amounting to twenty-four, arrived about sunrise at Foi-t Snelling. Walking to the gates of the garrison, they asked the protection of Colonel Snelling and Taliaferro, the Indian agent. They were told, tliat as long as they remained under the United States flag, they were secure, and were ordered to encamp within musket shot of the high stone walls of the fort.

During the afternoon, aDahkotah, Toopunkah Zeze, from a village near the first rapids of the Minnesota, visited the Ojibway camp. They were cordially received, and a feast of meat and com and sugar, was soon made ready. Tlie wooden plates emptied of their contents, they engaged in conversation, and whiffed the peace pipe.

That night, some officers and their friends were spending a pleasant evening at the head-quarters of Captain Clark, which was in one of the stone houses which used to stand outside of the walls of the fort. As Captain Cruger was walking on the porch, a bullet whizzed by, and rapid firing was heard.

As the Dahkotahs, or Sioux, left the Ojibway camp, notwithstanding their friendly talk, they turned and discharged their gmis with deadly aim upon their entertainers, and ran off with a shout of satisfaction. The report was heard by the sentinel of the fort, and he cried, repeatedly, " Corporal of the guard I" and soon at the gates, were the Ojibways, with their women and the woimded, telling their tale of woe in wild and incoherent language. Two had been killed and six wounded. Among others, was a little girl about seven years old, who was pierced through both thighs with Cj bullet. Surgeon McMahon made every effort to save her life, but Virithout avail.

Flat Mouth, the chief, reminded Colonel Snelling that he had been attacked while imder the protection of the United States flag, and early the next morning. Captain Clark, with one hundred soldierc, proceeded towards Land's End, a trading-post of the Columbia Fur Company, on the Minnesota, a mile above the former residence of

Tragic Scene Vnder The Walls Of The Fort

Franklin Steele, where the Dahkotahs were supposed to be. The soldiers had just left the large gate of the fort, when a party of Dahkotahs, in battle array, appeared on one of the prairie hills. After some parleying they turned tlieir backs, and being pursued, thirty-two were captured near the trading-post.

Colonel Snelling ordered the prisoners to be brought before the Ojibways, and two being pointed out as participants in the slaughter of the preceding night, they were delivered to the aggrieved party to deal with in accordance with their customs. They were led out to the plain in front of the gate of the fort, and when placed nearly Avithout the range of the Ojibway gims, they were told to run for tlieir lives. With the rajMdity of deer they bounded away, but the Ojibway bullet flew faster, and after a few steps, they fell gasping on the ground, and were soon lifeless. Then the savage natiure displayed itself in all its hideousness. Women and children danced for joy, and placing their fingers in the bullet holes, from which the blood oozed, they licked them with delight. The men tore the scalps from the dead, and seemed to luxuriate in the privilege of plunging their knives through the corpses. After the execution, the Ojibways returned to the fort, and were met by the Colonel. lie had prevented all over whom his authority extended fiom witnessing the scene, and had done his best to confine the excitement to the Indians. The same day a deputation of Dahkotali warriors received audience, regretting the violence that had been done by their young men, and agreeing to deliver up the ringleaders.

At the time appointed, a son of Flat Mouth, with those of the Ojibwa party that were not wounded, escorted by United States troops, marched forth to meet the Dahkotah deputation, on the prairie just beyond the old residence of the Indian agent. With much solemnity two more of the guilty were handed over to the assaulted. One was fearless, and with firmness stripped himself of his clothing and ornaments, and distributed them. The other could not face death with composure. He was noted for a hideous hare-lip, and had a bad reputation among his fellows. In the spirit of a coward he prayed for life, to the mortification of his tribe. The same opportunity was presented to them as to the first, of running for their lives. At the first fire the coward fell a corpse; but his brave companion, though wounded, ran on, and had nearly reached the goal of safety, when a second bullet killed him. The body of the coward now became a common object of loathing for both Dahkotahs and Ojibways.

Colonel Snelling told the Ojibways that the bodies must be removed, and then they took the scalped Dahkotahs, and dmgging them by the heels, threw them off the bluff into the river, a hundred and fifty feet beneath. The dreadful scene was now over ; and a detachment of troops was sent with the old chief Flat Mouth, to escort him out of the reach of Dahkotah vengeance.

An eyewitness wrote : " After this catastrophe, all the Dahkotahs quitted the vicinity of Fort Snelling, and did not return to it for some months. It was said that they formed a conspiracy to demand a council, and kill the Indian Agent and the commanding ofticer. If this was a fact, they had no opportunity, or wanted the spirit, to execute their purpose.

" The Flat Mouth's band lingered in the fort till their wounded comrade died. He was sensible of his condition, and bore liis pains with great fortitude. When he felt liis end approach, he desired that his horse might l^e gaily caparisoned, and brought to the hospital window, so that he might touch the animal. He then took from his medicine bag a large cake of maple sugar, and held it forth. It may seem strange, but it is true, thajb the beast ate it from his hand. His features were radiant with delight as he fell back on the pillow exhausted. His horse had eaten the sugar, he said, and he was sure of a favorable reception and comfortable quarters in the other world. Half an hour after, he breathed his last. We tried to discover the details of his superstition, but could not succeed. It is a subject on which Indians imwillingly discourse."

In the fall of 1826, all the troops at Prairie du Cliien had been removed to Fort Snelling, the commander taking with liim two Winnebagoes that had been confined in Fort Crawford. After the soldiers left the Prairie, the Indians m the vicinity were quite insolent.

the site of the present town of Winona, the crew were ordered to come ashore by the Dahkotahs. Complying, they found themselves surrounded by Indians with hostile intentions. The boatmen had no fire-arms, but assuming a bold mien and a defiant voice, the captain of the keel-boats ordered the savages to leave the decks ; which was successful, . The boats pushed on, and at Ile(J Wing and Kaposia the Indians showed that they were not friendly, though they did not molest the boats. Before they started on their return from Fort Snelling, the men on board, amoimting to thirty-two, were all provided with muskets and a barrel of ball cartridges.

When the descending keel-boats passed Wapashaw, the Dahkotas were engaged in the war dance, and menaced them, but made no attack. Below this point one of the boats moved in advance of the other, and when near the mouth of the Bad Axe, the half-breeds on board descried hostile Indians on the banks. As the chamiel neared the shore, the sixteen men on tlie firet boat were greeted with the war whoop and a volley of rifle balls from the excited Winnehagoes, killing two of the crew. Rushing into their canoes, the Indians made the attempt to board the boat, and two were successful. One of these stationed himself at the bow of the boat, and fired with killing effect on the men below deck. An old soldier of the last war with Great Britain, called Saucy Jack, at last despatched him, and began to rally the fainting spirits on board. During the fight the boat had stuck on a sand-bar. With four companions, amid a shower of balls from the savages, he plunged uito the water and pushed off the boat, and tlius moved out of reach of tlie galling shots of the Winnebagoes. As they floated down the river during the night, they heard a wail in a canoe behind them, the voice of a father mourning the death of the son who had scaled the deck, and was now a corpse in possession of the white men. The rear boat passed the Bad Axe river late in the night, and escaped an attack.

Tlie first keel-boat arrived at Prairie du Chein, with two of their crew dead, four wounded, and the Indian that had been killed On the boat. The two dead men had been residents of the Prairie, and now the panic w^as increased. On the morning of the twenty-eighth of June the second keel -boat appeared, and among her passengers was Joseph Snelling, the talented son of the colonel, who wrote a story of deep interest, based on the facts narrated.

At a meeting of the citizens it was resolved to repair old Fort Ci*awford, and Thomas McXair was appointed captain. Dirt was thro^^^l around the bottem logs of the fortification to prevent its being fired, and young Snelling was put in command of one of the block-houses. On the next day a voyageur named Loyer, and the well-known trader Duncan Graham, started through the interior, west of the Mississippi, with intelligence of the murders, to Fort SnelUng. Intelligence of this attack was received at the fort, on the evening of the ninth of July, and Col. Snelling started in keel boats with four companies to Fort Crawford, and on tlie seventeenth four more companies left under Major Fowle. After an absence of six weeks, the soldiers, without firing a gun at the enemy, returned.

A few weeks after tlie attack upon the keel boats General Gaines inspected the Fort, and, subse(iuently in a communication to the War Department wrote as follows ;

The main points of defence against an enemy appear to have been in some respects sacrificed, in the effort to secure the comfort and convenience of troops in peace. These are important considerations, but on an exposed frontier the primary object ought to be security against the attack of an enemy.

" Tlie buildings are too laige, too numerous, and extending over a space entirely too great, enclosing a large parade, five times greater than is at all desireable in that climate. The buildings for the most part seem well constructed, of good stone and other materials, and they contain every desirable convenience, comfort and security as barracks and store houses.

" The work may be rendered very strong and adapted to a garrison of two himdred men by removing one-half the buildings, and with the materials of which they are constructed, building a tower suflSciently high to command the hill between the Mississippi and St. Peter's [Minnesota], and by a block house on the extreme point, or brow of the cliff, near the commandant's quarters, to secure most effectually the banks of the river, and the boats at the landing.

Death Of Col. Josiah Snelling

"Much crj(iit i; due to Colonel Snelling, his officers and men, for their immense labors and excellent workmanship exhibited in the construction of these barracks and store houses, but this has been effected too much at the expense of the discipline of the regiment."

From reports made from 1823 to 1826, the health of the troops was good. In the year ending September thirty, 1823, there were but two deaths ; in 1824 only six, and in 1825 but seven.

In 1825 there were three desertions, in 1824 twenty-two, and in 1825 twenty-nine. iMost of the deserters were fresh recruits and natives of America, Ten of the deserters wore foreigners, and five of these were bom in Ireland. In 1826 there were eight companies nimibering two hundred and fourteen soldiers quartered in the Fort* During the fall of 1827 the Fifth Regiment was relieved by a part of the First, and the next year Colonel Snelling proceeded to Washington on business, where he died with inflammation of the brain. Major General Macomb announcing his death in an order, wrote :

"Colonel Snelling joined the army in early youth. In the battle of Tippecanoe, he was distinguished for gallantry and good conduct. Subsequently and during the whole late war with Great Britain, from the battle of Brownstown to tlie termination of the contest, he was actively employed in the field, with credit to himself, and honor to his country."

Arriral of J. N. Nicoll*» - MaiTiage of James WoUb - Hicollet'i letter from Fallsof St. Anthony - Perils of Martin McLeod - Chj|>r»<'w«y treachery - Sioux Ro vengc - Rum River and Stillwater batUni - Grog shops near the Fort.

On the second of July 1836, the steamboat Saint Peter landed supplies, and among its passengers was the distinguished French astronomer, Jean N. Nicollet (Nicolay). Major Taliaferro on the twelfth of July, wrote; " Mr. Nicollet, on a visit to the post for scientific research, and at present in my family, has shown me the late work of Henry B. Schoolcraft on the discovery of the source of the Mississippi ; which claim is ridiculous In the extreme." On the twenty-seventh, Nicollet ascended the Mississippi on a tour of observation.

James Wells, a trader, who afterwards was a member of the legislature, at the house of Oliver Cratte, near the fort, was married on the twelfth of September, by Agent Taliaferro, to Jane, a daughter of Duncan Graham. Wells was killed in 1862, by tlie Sioux, at the time of the massacre in the Minnesota Valley.

Nicollet in September returned from his trip to Leech Lake, and on the twenty-seventh wrote the following to Major Taliaferro the Indian Agent at the fort, which is supposed to be the earliest letter extant witten from the bite of the city of Minneapolis. As the principal hotel and one of the finest avenues of that city bears his name it is worthy of preservation. He spelled his name sometimes Nicoley, and the pronimciation in English, would be Nicolay, the same as if written Nicollet in French. The letter shows that he had not mastered the English language : " St. Anthony's Falls, 27th September, 1836,

Dear Friend : - I arrived last evening about dark; all well, nothing lost, nothing broken, happy and a very successful journey. But I done exhausted, and nothing can relieve me, but the pleasure of meeting you again under your hospitable roof, and to see all the friends of tho garrisou who have been so kind to me.

" This letter is more particularly to give you a very extraordinary tide. Flat Mouth, the chief of Leech Lake and suite, ten in number aie with me. The day before yesterday I met them again at Swan river where they detained me one day. I had to bear a new harangue and gave answer. All terminated by their own resolution that they ought to give you the hand, as well as to the Guinas of the Fort (Colonel Davenport.) I thought it my duty to acquidnt you with it beforehand. Peace or war are at stake of the visit they pay you. Please give tliem a good welcome until I have reported to you and Colonel Davenport all that has taken place during my stay among the Pillagers. But be assured I have not trespassed and that I have behaved as would have done a good citizen of the U. S. As to Schoolcraft's statement alluding to you, you will have full and complete satisfaction from Flat Mouth himself. In haste, your friend, J. N. Nicoley."

On the seventeenth of March, 1837, there arrived Martin McLeod, who became a prominent citizen of Minnesota, and the legislature has given his name to a county.

He left the Red ifiver country on snow shoes, with two companions, one a Polander and the other an Irishman named Hays, and Pierre Bottineau as interpreter. Being lost in a violent snow storm the Pole and Irishman perished. He and his guide, Bottineau, hved for a time on the flesh of one of their dogs. After being twentysix days without seeing any one, the survivors reached the trading post of Joseph 11. Brown, at Lake Traverse, and from thence they came to the fort.

Indian Battles At Bum Biveb And Stillwateb

under the noted and elder Hole-in-the-Day. The Chippeways feigned the warmest friendship, and at dark lay down in the tents by the side of the Sioux, and in the night silently arose and killed them. The occurrence took place at the Chippeway River, about thirty miles from Lac qiu Parle, and the next day the Rev. G. H. Pond, the Indian missionary, accompanied by a Sioux, \.ent out and buried the mutilated and scalpless bodies.

On the second of August old IIole-in-the-Day, and some Ojibways, came to the fort. They stopped first at the cabin of Peter Quinn, whose wife was a half-breed Ghippeway, about a mile from the fort.

The missionary, Samuel W. Pond, told the agent that the Sioux, of Lake Calhoun were aroused, and on their way to attack the Chippeways. The agent quieted them for a time, but two of the relatives of those slain at Lac qui Parle in April, hid themselves near Quinn's house, and as Hole-in-the-Day and his associates were paiis- Ing, they fired and killed one Chippeway and wounded another. Obequette, a Chippeway from Red Lake, succeded, however, in shooting a Sioux while he was in the act of scalping his comrade. The Chippeways were brought within the fort as soon as possible, and at nine o^clock a Sioux was confined in the guard-house as a hostage.

Notwithstanding the murdered Chippeway had been buried in the graveyard of the fort for safety, an attempt was made on the part of some of the Sioux, to dig it up. On the evening of the sixth, Major Plympton sent the Chippeways across the river to the east side, and ordered them to go home as soon as possible.

On the twentieth day of June the elder Holein-the-Day arrived from the Upper Mississippi ^vith several hundred Chippeways. Upon their return homeward the Mississippi and Mille Lacs band encamped the first night at the Falls of Saint Anthony, and some of the Sioux visited them and bmoked the pipe of peace.

On the second of July, about sunrise, a son-inlaw of the chief of the Sioux band, at Lake Calhoun, named Meekaw or Badger, was killed and scalped by two Chippeways of the Pillager band, relatives of him who lost liis lifp near Patrick

QiiiHn's the year before. The excitement was intense among the Sioux, and immediately war parties started in pursuit. Hole-in-the-Day's band was not sought, but the Mille Lacs and Saint Croix Chippeways. The Lake Callioun Sioux, with those from the villages on the Minnesota, assembled at the Palls of Saint Anthony, and on the morning of the fourth of July, came up with the Mille Lacs Chippeways on Rum River, before sunrise. Not long after the war whoop was raised and the Sioux attacked, killing and wounding ninety.

The Kaposia band of Sioux pursued the Saint Croix Chippeways, and on the third of July found them in the Penitentiary ravine at Stillwater, under the influence of whisky. Aitkin, the old trader, was with them. The sight of the Sioux tended to make them sober, but in the fight tvvent}'-one were killed and t>venty-nine were woimded.

"Whisky, during the year 1839, was freely introduced, in the face of the law prohibiting it. The first boat of the season, the Ariel, came to the fort on the fourteenth of April, and brought twenty barrels of whisky for Joseph R. Brown, and on the twenty-first of May, the Glaucus brought six barrels of liquor for David Faribault. On the thirtieth of June, some soldiers went to Joseph R. Brown's groggery on the opposite side of tlie Mississippi, and that night forty -seven were in the guard-house for drunkenness. The demoralization then existing, led to a letter by Surgeon Emerson on duty at the fort, to the Surgeon General of the United States army, in which he writes :

" The whisky is brought here by citizens who are pointing in upon us and settling themselves on the opposite shore of the Mississippi river, in defiance of our worthy commanding oflicer. Major J. Plympton, whose authority they set at naught. At this moment there is a citizen named Brown, once - a soldier in the Fifth Infantry, who was discharged at this post, while Colonel Snelling commanded, and who has been smce employed by the American Fur Company, actually building on the land marked out by the land officers as the reserve, and within gunshot distance of the fort, a very expensive whisky shop."

Explorees And Pioneers Of Minnesota Indian Tribes In Minnesota At The Time Of Its Organization

Slonx or DahkoUh peopl« - MeaninKof words Sioux and PahkotAh - Karly villapes - Reaidonc* of Sioux in 184»-The Winnehatroes-Tho Ojihways or Chippoways.

The three Indian nations who dwelt in this region after the organization of Minnesota, were the Sioux or Dahkotahs ; the Ojibways or Chippeways; and the Ho-tchun-graws or Winnebagoes.

Sioux Or Dahkotahs

They are an entirely different group from the Algonquin and Iroquois, who were found by the early settlers of the Atlantic States, on the banks of the Connecticut, Mohawk, and Susquehanna Rivers.

When the Dahkotahs were first noticed by the European adventurers, large numbers were occupying the Mille Lacs region of country, and appropriately called by the voyageur, ''People of the Lake," "Gens du Lac." And tradition asserts that here was the ancient centre of this tribe. Though we have traces of their warring and liunting on the shores of Lake Superior, there is no satisfactory evidence of their residence, east of the Mille Lacs region, as they have no name for Lake Superior.

The word Dahkotah, by which they love to be designated, signifies allied or joined together in friendly compact, and is equivalent to '' E pluribus unum," the motto on the seal of the United States.

In the history of the mission at La Pointe, Wisconsin, published nearly two centuries ago, a a writer, referring to the Dalikotahs, remarks :

*' For sixty leagues from the extremity of the Upper Lake, toward sunset ; and, as it were in the centre of the western nations, they have all united their force, by a general Icayne.^'*

Tlie Dahkotahs in the earliest documents, and even until the present day, are culled Sioux, Scioux, or Soos. The name originated with the early voyageurs. For centuries the Ojibways of Lake Superior waged war against the Dahkotahs ; and,

The French traders, to avoid exciting the attention of Indians, while conversing in their presence, were accustomed to designate them by names, which would not be recognized.

Under the influence of the French traders, the eastern Sioux began to wander from the Mille Lacs region. A trading post at 0-ton-we-kpadan, or Rice Creek, above the Falls of Saint Anthony, induced some to erect their summer dwellings and plant com there, which took the place of wild rice. Those who dwelt here were called Wa-kpa-a-ton-we-dan Those who dwell on the creek. Another division was known as the Ma-tan- ton-wan .

Less than a hundred years ago, it is said that the eastern Sioux, pressed by the Chippeways, and influenced by traders, moved seven miles above Fort Snelling on the Minnesota River.

Med-Day-Wah-Kawn-Twawns

In 1849 there were seven villages of Med-daywah-kawn-twawn Sioux. (1) Below Lake Pepin, where the city of Winona is, was the village of AVapashaw. This band was called Kee-yu-ksa, because with them blood relations intermarried. Bounding or Whipping Wind was the chief. (2) At the head of Lake Pepin, under a lofty bluff, was the Red Wing village, called Ghay-mni-chan Hill, wood and water. Shooter was the name of the chief. (3) Opposite, and a little below the I'ig's Eye Marsh, was the Kajwsia band. The word, Kapoja means light, given because these people are quick travelers. His Scarlet People, better known as Little Crow, was the chief, and is notorious as the leader in the massacre of 1862.

a few miles above For t Snelling , was Black Dog village. The inhabitants were called, Ma-ga-yutay-shnee. People who do not a geese, because they found it profitable to sell game at Fort Snelling. Grey Iron was the chief, also known as Parma-ya-yaw, My head aches.

At Oak Grove, on the north side of the nver, eight miles above the fort, was (5) Ilay-ya-ta-oton-wan, or Inland Village, so called because they formerly lived at Lake Calkoun. Contiguous was (6) 0-ya-tay-shee-ka, or Bad People, Known as Good Koads Band and (7) the largest village was Tin-ta-ton-wan, Prairie Village; Shokpay, or Six, was the chief, and is now the aite of the towTi of Shakopee. West of this division of the Sioux were -

War-Pa Y-Ku-Tay

The AVar-pay-ku-tay, or leaf shooters, who occupied the country south of the Minnesota around the sources of the Cannon and Blue Earth Rivers.

War-Pa Y-Twawns

North and west of the last were the War-paytwawns, or People of the Leaf, and their principal village was Lac qui Parle. They numbered about fifteen hundred.

Sb-See-Twawns

To the west and southwest of these bands of Sioux were the Se-see-twawns (Sissetoans), or Swamp Dwellers. This band claimed the lanG west of the Blue Earth to the James River, and the guardianship of the Sacred Red Pipestone Quarry. Their principal village was at Traverse, and the number of the band was estimated at thirty-eight hundred.

Ho-Tchtjn-Oraws, Or Winnebagoes

The Ho-tchim-graws, or Winnebagoes, belong . to the Dalikotah family of aborigines. Champlain, although he never visited them, mentions them. Nicollet, who had been in his employ, visited Green Bay about the year 1635, and nn early Relation mentions that he saw the Ouinipegous, a people called so, because they cam6 from a distant sea, which some French erroneously called Puants. Another writer speaking of these people says: '^This people are called ' Les Puants ' not because of any bad odor peculiar to them, but because they claim to have come from the shores of a far distant lake, towards the north, whose waters are salt. They call themselves the people ' de Teau puants,' of the putrid or bad water."

By the treaty of 1837 they were removed to Iowa, and by another treaty in October, 1846, they came to Minnesota in the spring of 1848, to the country between the Long Prairie, and Crow Wing Rivers. The agency was located on Long Prairie River, forty miles from the Mississippi, and in 1849 the tribe niunbered about twenty-five hundred souls.

In February 1855, another treaty was made with them, and that spring they removed to lands on the Blue Earth River. Owing to the panic caused by the outbreak of the Sioux in 1862, Congress, by a special act, without consulting them, in 1863, removed them from their fields in Minnesota to the Missouri River, and in the words of a missionary, ''they were, like the Sioux, dumped in the desert, one hundred miles above Fort Randall"

The Ojibways or Leapers, when the French CiOme to Lake Superior, had their chief settlement at Sault St. Marie, and w^ere called by the French Saulteurs, and by the Sioux, Ilah-ha-tonwan, Dwellers at the Falls or Leaping Waters.

AVTien Du Luth erected his trading post at the western extremity of Lake Superior, they had not obtained any foothold in Minnesota, and were constantly at war with their hereditary enemes, the Nadouaysioux. By the middle of the eighteenth century, they had pushed in and occupied Sandy, Leech, Mille Lacs and other points between Lake Superior and the Mississippi, which had been dwelling places of the Sioux. In 1820 the principal villages of Ojibways in Minnesota were at Fond du Lac, Leech Lake and Sandy Lake. In 1837 they ceded most of their lands. Since then, other treaties have been made, until in the year 1881, they are confined to a few reservations, in northern Minnesota and vicinity.